Background info: I’m heading off to Uganda in December to visit a daughter who is there on a Peace Corp mission. Flashlights are valuable where she is due to the power situation. Most villagers have no power and those who do have unreliable power (works maybe 50% of the time). I’m bringing a bunch of lights (Tank007 TK566, Sipik 68 clones, and Costco headlights) for her to give away.
For the more important people I’m bringing some Sanyo or Recyko USB chargers Amazon.com, Amazon.com. I’d like to be able to give cheaper chargers to other people. I only need a single cell charger since all the lights will be single cell (the ones getting the 3AAA Costco lights are on their own). A smart charge would be ideal but I haven’t been able to find one in that price range. The cheapest so far is this one: http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10002741/1311000-soshine-sc-f3-lifepo4-14500-10440-36v-ni-mh-aa-aa
So I guess I’ll have to settle for decent dumb chargers. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Maybe take some scrap solar panels from cheap LED landscape lights that people are going to toss … if you ask neighbors, there are probably some sitting around or needing to be replaced.
EDIT: Oh, and maybe some of those chargers on a chip that others here at BLF have tried (hopefully someone will post links).
Brad….some of the reviews indicate that it’s a bit flimsy. What is your opinion on that? I know that one can’t get much for $3 but it will be roughly treated where it’s going. Also have you tried it with Ni-MH batteries, or are you using it mostly for other chemistry batteries?
By smart I mean that the charger ‘cuts off’ and has a tickle charge or something like that. Some forum member tested it and I went with his advice with it. It’s in an old thread somewhere.
About being independent, I don’t know but I can charge 1, 2, 3 or 4 AA cells without any problems.
Its definetely NOT TIMER BASED. It will have an indicator while charging (red led) which goes off once the battery is charged. You can test by using a near depleted cell and a full one. The full one will not have its led lighting implying it is fully charged and not charging more.
I think 2 bays are linked or something like that.
Here is my original post.
And a link to another post contained in my thread (REVIEWED BY ADMIN)
It’s smart according to the post/review made by the admin. I value the time and pain he has taken more to put up his review than your unconstructive comment. It might not be the fastest WHICH I POINTED OUT, but it gets the job done, is smart and is gentle on the batteries.
Ask your neighbors, friends, and contacts; not theirs. Some of them may have old lights laying around or ready to be pulled from the yard if they barely work. Mostly the contacts will be corroded.
The small 3 to 4 inch panels we can find for scrap in developed countries will at least partially charge an AA rechargeable for use at night. Put a magnet on the wires and you have instant crude charger to go with a cheap NiMH (sometimes a few decent cells will be found in the salvage).
The lights themselves are too big for efficient travel, but the panels are thin and stack reasonably well. Free power could help in a place where there is unreliable or no power …
The 80 - 200 mA charge current means there can only be one out of three options
1) It is timer based, or
2) It is overcharging the cells, or
3) The cells are not properly charged (and is still disconnected by some timer or other event which is not related to the cells beeing full).
This is because there is no reliable end of charge detection at this low current, especially for older cells, so thinking it is “gentle” is totally wrong. The original review thread is also full with misinformation about “gentle charging”… It is no coincidence that both Sanyo and Duracell engineers recommend 1C current when charging.
It seems that it doesn’t work for 4 cells so at least 3) is true for that.
I hate that too! But all she can do is tell them that they are rechargeable and then it’s up to them. Most of the people are well educated, doctors, nurses, etc. Unfortunately well-educated in a 3rd world country is not necessarily the same as in other places.
Quality non-rechargeable batteries are extremely expensive there (as compared to income) so they will hopefully not toss the ones they get.
The odds of finding landscape solar panels in San Francisco are fairly close to finding them in Uganda. The ones getting the lights are the ones with power (even if it’s unreliable). Having them jerry-rig a charger also defeats the purpose of giving them a nice gift, at least in my mind.
